


Life Force

by LookingForOctober



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-26
Updated: 2013-03-26
Packaged: 2018-01-06 23:55:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1113011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LookingForOctober/pseuds/LookingForOctober
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first slayer isn't happy when Buffy gets pregnant with a vampire's child.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life Force

**Author's Note:**

> This work was originally published on the livejournal community sb_fag_ends, in response to the prompt "desert wind".
> 
> This story is not comics compliant.

It took a little bit of magic and a lot of science for Buffy to get pregnant with Spike's child. The science was routine; vampires still had DNA, after all, and that sequence was all you needed these days.

The magic was for Buffy's side of things; at forty, she was old for a first pregnancy, and now that there were thousands of Slayers, studies had shown without possibility of doubt that Slayers were less fertile than the general population. Their bodies rejected the embryos more often than not, but with magical assistance, it only took one try for the fertilized egg to slip past the Slayer defenses and implant.

After that, nature took its course. Buffy developed a craving for blue cheese and pickle casserole, Spike's swagger became a caricature, and she let him hold her arm when leaping from one roof to another chasing vampires. It made him feel better.

After they discovered that the baby was a girl, the real trouble began. "No, we are not going to call her Buffy Jr.," Buffy repeated for the fifty-fifth time. "I'm just selfish that way, okay, Spike? Besides--"

"You're not selfish, love, just stubborn," Spike said.

"Besides," Buffy continued inexorably. "She's yours too."

"If I wanted to name the little wriggler Willamina, I would have staked myse--"

Buffy's gasp was barely audible, but it stopped Spike in mid-word. He was at her side in an instant. 

"What's wrong?"

"It's just cramps." She forced herself to say it calmly, but another wave of pain caught her breath again.

He wrapped his arm around her waist. "Get you over to the couch, pet..."

 

Sand crunched under her feet. Wind battered her. The desert baked under an intense sun, and Buffy knew exactly where she was.

"We have got to stop meeting like this," she shouted into the wind. "But not until you tell me what's going on this time."

Her hair whipped against her face, but she stood firmly grounded. When the wind died down, she faced the Primitive. Sineya, the First Slayer.

 _You carry something of a vampire inside of you._ She sensed the words rather than hearing them.

"In more ways than one," Buffy said. "But haven't we talked about this? My friends, my heart, and my child -- they've got one thing in common. Me. Not you. And haven't you noticed? No Slayer is alone anymore."

_A Slayer must not nurture the seed of the vampire._

"Too late for that." Buffy put a hand over her stomach. "And she's human, even if her father isn't."

_All that is tainted by a vampire must die. The Slayer's purpose is death._

"No," Buffy said. A twitch of the eyes was all the warning she got, and all the warning she needed. She shifted her weight in response, and deflected the blow, captured the arm delivering it and pulled the First Slayer close, wrapping her arms around her, immobilizing her. She felt the baby kick, and she knew the First Slayer felt it too.

"The Slayer's purpose is protection of life. Life like her. Can you feel her? She's alive..." And that fact always made Buffy smile a goofy smile, even when in mortal combat with an enemy who was threatening her daughter. "She's _alive_. The Slayer's purpose is life."

The First Slayer stopped struggling.

"In a way, she's your daughter too," Buffy said. "And so am I. And I'm speaking as a mom to be when I say every parent has to learn to let their kids live for themselves."

 _Death was my only gift._ Buffy might have been imagining it, but she thought she detected the faintest hint of regret.

"I'm sorry," Buffy said. She loosened her hold on the First Slayer, just enough to make it a hug and not a restraint. "I've tried that, but I've always preferred life."

_...never life..._

And Buffy wasn't imagining it; the First Slayer pressed her flat stomach closer against Buffy's rounded one as the baby kicked again.

"Always life."

 

The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was Spike's face. The next was the pristine white of a hospital room. She reached out and wiped away a tear from Spike's cheek.

"Oh my love..." he whispered. "I thought I could lose you."

"It's going to be okay," she said, running her hand through his hair. "Just a little--" 

"I told them if they had to make a choice, to save you and not little Buffy Jr.," Spike said. Typical, rushing to confession like that. She couldn't help but smile at him.

"It's _okay_ , Spike. It was just a little misunderstanding. The First Slayer doesn't approve of vampire babies, but I got things straightened out." 

"That bitch," he said without heat. His overwhelming emotion was relief. When he started to laugh, helplessly joyous, she laughed too, almost giddy with relief.

When they'd laughed themselves to happy satiation, they sneaked out the window. They were too happy for doors and forms and everything proper. She took the arm he offered and as they strolled away, she caught his eye and asked, "By the way, what do you think about calling our squirt Sineya?"


End file.
